This blog is intended to do "exactly what it says on the tin" so below are some of my 'Thoughts on Music'. They predominantly concern recent matters but will not always do so. I'll also happily turn to matters of the music industry more generally if and when I feel so inclined. So there!
If you don't agree with something please feel free to add a comment. They are moderated by me (so I'll get to read it) and I might even reply. Above all however just enjoy whatever music you like!
Richard

Friday, July 04, 2008

It's the 4th July - which is just another day here in the UK, but it is supposed to be a summer day. Is that so? - fat chance!Worse still, the radio stations have gone to pot as well. It is, and this is clearly an import from the US, the 'High School Prom' season and while that is a fairly recent import in the UK calendar, and with which I do not have a problem, I really wonder if what the radio stations have decided to play "in honor" bears a resemblance to any contemporary trend!It seems to consist mostly of pop and disco ballads from 1975 -1988, which were all released far before the current protagonists were born. I'm not against the revival of old music, far from it in fact, but I think that this programming is actually aimed at an older audience - probably the parents of those school-leavers.

The radio was turned off early this evening and the advantage of having a sizable music collection of my own, whether currently in vogue or not, became very apparent and I'm old enough to make my own bad choices in music! I did think about the possibility of doing a mid-year 'favourites' list but have decided to do something different over the next few days and that is to try and decide which acts would appear, if I were arranging a festival line-upthis so-called summer, and I will exclude any act that I have already seen performing live.

Every festival needs at least one infectious feel-good band and this would be my first choice:

In the last couple of years the seemingly impossible has happened and the UK has taken at least some notice of 'country music' if only in the cross-over formats. That said, this has to be one of the most improbable artists to play a part in that change...

This is a promo copy (PROP 05309) of Cock A Hoop (2003).

Since then she has returned to Wales and, as she is bilingual, may well reappear later in this list.